Accountants and auditors are muscling in on the preparation of climate data amid concern that companies are still far from ready for disclosure rules being drawn up by regulators around the world.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is finalising a rule to require audited emissions data be included in corporate financial reports, while accounting standards setters in Europe are close to publishing new climate reporting guidelines. The developments raise the stakes for companies that until now have been reporting environmental, social and governance data on a largely voluntary basis.
In response, companies are pulling staff from their finance departments into work on emissions data and other ESG metrics that are currently pulled together by specialists in sustainability reporting. Some are appointing “ESG controllers” with accounting backgrounds to impose the kinds of…
